RP not interested to give ‘Hazel’ justice - group

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant group accused the Philippine government of not taking serious steps to pursue justice for alleged rape victim ‘Hazel’ whose case against a US soldier in Okinawa was dismissed last week.

Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson, told GMANews.TV that the government has not extended substantial help for the 22-year-old overseas Filipino worker since she lodged a complaint last year.

“Yung pagkakabasura ng kaso pagpapakita ng kawalan ng interes ng gobyerno. Wala kasing nakikitang hakbang ng gobyerno para iusad ang kaso," Martinez said on Monday.

[The dismissal of the case shows the government’s lack of interest. We can’t see any moves made by the government to pursue the case.]

Martinez said Hazel’s plight is similar to the injustice accorded to ‘Nicole,’ a Filipina who was raped by Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, a US soldier who was stationed in Subic in 2005 as part of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement. (See related story here)

Although the Philippine Court convicted Smith of the charge, he remains in the US embassy and has yet to be jailed for his crime.

Gabriela, a women’s rights group supporting Hazel’s fight in the Philippines, broke the news that the US military court in Japan dismissed the rape charges against Army Spec. Ronald Hopstock who allegedly forced Hazel to have sex with him inside a hotel.

The group said the US military court found no substantial evidence against Hopstock.

Martinez announced that about 50 members of Migrante and Gabriela would troop the US Embassy in Manila on Monday to protest the junking of Hazel’s rape case.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde assailed the group for criticizing the government, which he said has “done its best" to help Hazel get justice. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs had earlier said that it would explore all options to pursue the case including filing an appeal in the Japanese courts.

“That’s a very unfair statement coming from Migrante," Remonde said, “Domingo Siazon, the Philippine Ambassador to Japan, has been on top of the situation."

GMANews.TV sought a reaction from the Philippine Embassy in Japan but the staff of Consul General Sulpicio Confiado said they have no comment on the matter.

Hazel was reportedly raped three days after arriving in Okinawa, Japan in February of last year.

Japanese police reports said that the Filipina was invited to eat out by a 20-something US serviceman at around 2 a.m. of February 18, the day the alleged rape incident took place in a hotel.

“Only when my daughter went to the comfort room did she feel that her pants were soaked in blood," the victim’s father said in an earlier interview.

The report said that worried members of the hotel staff took her to the hospital when they saw her bleeding profusely. Hazel was confined in a hospital for a week after the incident.

The alleged victim positively identified the suspect in a police line up, the report added, citing police accounts. The US serviceman has denied the allegations and maintained that the Filipina consented to have sex with him.

The Naha district prosecutor's office earlier dismissed the rape case saying that there was no sufficient evidence to pin down the US soldier.

Okinawa, a southern Japanese prefecture, is home to about 20,000 US soldiers. It has since been in hot water for previous rape scandals including that of a 14-year-old Japanese school girl who was forced to have sex with a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant. - Mark Joseph H. Ubalde, GMANews.TV